


Take This To Your Grave

by amandaithink



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-30
Updated: 2015-05-29
Packaged: 2017-12-13 11:54:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/824019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amandaithink/pseuds/amandaithink
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>High school au. Tony managed to get through high school without anyone knowing he was Tony STARK and with very few people knowing how young he was - he would be graduating at only 14. There are only a few weeks left before he would be off to MIT. Loki Odinson has demons that he's barely managed to keep at bay, and a boyfriend who he'd rather pretend didn't exist most of the time. If he can pass Calculus he's all set to leave for Harvard in the fall, and everything else behind him. With such a short way to go, everything seems like it would be smooth sailing. That is, until they meet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Tell That Mick He Just Made My List of Things To Do Today

**_Friday_ **

People are assholes, and that’s why we can’t have nice things. That sentence pretty much summed up Tony Stark’s mood as he stood outside the school, smoking his 4th cigarette since lunch began. Well...at least it was a sentence that summed things up without swearing. Otherwise, he would have used some very colourful language. 

Sometimes he didn’t even know why he bothered going to this school in the first place. He could easily be in any prestigious private school he wanted, any school especially for gifted students. Instead, he had convinced his parents to go through all of this confidentiality legal crap so that he could go to public high school. No one here, aside from some staff, knew his last name - he was just Tony. Anthony, if someone felt like being a dick...which honestly shouldn’t even surprise him considering the entire premise of his chain smoking marathon. People. Assholes. Honestly they would probably be even more douchey at some hoity toity private school. Whatever.

Tossing his cigarette butt onto the pavement, Tony violently smashes it with his foot. He imagined that it was Pepper, who he most certainly was never going to speak to again if he could help it. She was a freshman and he was a senior, but they were the same age. Maybe that’s why it obviously had seemed like such an attractive and more appealing option to cheat on him with some sophomore named ‘Mick’. Who names their kid Mick, anyway? Just thinking about it had his brain repeating _hey Mickey you’re so fine, you’re so fine you blow my mind, hey Mickey hey hey hey Mickey_ over and over again. The last thing he wanted to think about was stupid fucking Mickey blowing the mind of his now ex-girlfriend. 

Before he could light up cigarette number 5, the bell rang signaling that lunch was over. He had hoped that he would calm himself down before now, but if anything he was even more enraged. New mission; find and kick that Mick kid’s ass. So that’s just what he did, and it didn’t take long given that Pepper’s red hair stuck out in the halls like a neon sign. She just had to be with him, didn’t she? That cemented Tony’s resolve. He entered the crowd, walking quickly around the other students that were in his way. Once he was close, he shoved a tall black haired kid out of his way and drug Mick by the back of his shirt before turning him and punching him in the face. 

“What the fuck!” the bastard shouted.

“Tony!” Pepper cried, trying to get over to Mick to comfort him. He didn’t give her a chance, almost throwing Mick into the lockers. That’s when the fight really began. It was a pretty even match, given that neither of them really knew how to fight and that both had pretty much the same build. After a particularly bad blow to the head - Mick had punched him in the face and his head had smacked against the brick wall - Tony was starting to lose the battle. 

They both were breathing heavily, circling each other. This was going to be the end move - Tony could feel it like static in the air. Mick had a black eye and scrapes on one side of his face from a hard hit against the lockers. Tony was sporting a bloody nose - probably broken - and what he was almost positive was a concussion. Pepper was off crying on the sidelines, where other students were gathered just to watch the show. He was surprised that she actually interrupted them.

“TONY! It’s over! I said I was sorry and I know it was shitty of me, but-”

“Oh because that’s supposed to make it all better? You’re _sorry_?!! So that means I’m supposed to just be fine with everything?!!”

“I didn’t say that! Don’t you think this is a little much?!”

“Don’t _you_ think you could have said something when you decided that you’d rather be with this clown than with me?! Or did fucking us both for two months just seem like a better idea?!! Did you think you were so good that you needed two boyfriends?!!”

“Tony stop it!!! It wasn’t like that and you know it!”

“Do I?!”

“Just stop! You don’t have to - Mick!!”

Tony whirled around in time to see Mick about to pound his head with a giant physics textbook. _Oh hey, that’s my physics book_ , Tony thought absentmindedly as he prepared for the blow. There was no way he had time to stop it now. Just as he cringed away, though, Mick was suddenly on the floor - drop kicked by the black haired kid Tony had pushed out of the way earlier. 

That’s when the school’s staff finally got through the crowd to break up the fight. Principal Coulson and Assistant Principal Hill dispersed the lingering students easily, soon leaving just Pepper, him, Mick, and the other guy who he now recognized as Loki Odinson - they had a class together but he didn’t remember which one. 

“Alright, I’m going to need an explanation and I’m going to need it now,” Coulson said, expressionless as always and eyeing each one of them.

“Tony was upset because I-”

“The guy came out of nowhere and punched me in the face!” Mick exclaimed, cutting off Pepper. 

“Is this true, Tony?” Hill asked, looking a little speculative. As they were higher ranking school officials, both Principal Coulson and Assistant Principal Hill knew that he was Tony Stark, genius and (unfortunately) heir to Stark Industries. At this point they knew he wasn’t a saint, but there wasn’t a lot they could do about anything he did. 

“Yeah,” he admitted with an easy shrug of his shoulders. Even if they did suspend or expel him, he didn’t really care. Maybe negative attention would get his parents to notice him, who knows. Though when he crashed the car last fall they just dealt with any possible bad publicity and made him disappear even more so than usual. 

“And you, Odinson?” Coulson turned to Loki. 

“This young lady had effectively stopped the fight, if only momentarily. Her boyfriend took this as an opportunity to attempt to knock out Anthony with his own textbook. I simply...disarmed him, you could say.” 

_Shit,_ Tony thought, _Loki is one smooth talking son of a bitch._

“Well as the instigator of the fight, you have detention Tony. You as well, Loki, for deciding to engage,” Coulson said, in that no nonsense manner of his. 

“Mick, it would appear that you’re the victim here. Looking at S- Tony, though, he obviously has at least a concussion and you could have killed or seriously injured him if Loki had not intervened. For that I’m going to have to suspend you until Thursday of next week,” Hill added, “and Pepper, you’re free to go.”

Tony and Loki didn’t even get to go to their afternoon classes. Instead they filled out incident reports with a secretary and then went straight to detention. As much as it was considered a punishment, it really was just being bored to death in a completely empty locked classroom. Every so often Assistant Principal Hill checked in, but it was pretty much solitary confinement. When Hill left after the second check, Loki turned around in his chair.

“So, senior fighting a sophomore? I am terribly sorry, but I don’t think that is the type of violence that will gain you any favours,” the taller boy said with a smirk.

“It wasn’t about impressing anyone, it was about kicking his ass so that no one ever thinks they can fuck with me like that ever again,” Tony replied, crossing his arms and leaning back. 

“I hardly think they’ll follow you after graduation to torment you. Or have you been bullied before?”

“Not since fr...oshmore year.”

“Well-”

“If I had a time machine, I’d do it all over again. Let’s just...not talk about it. It’s done.”

“Sounds fine to me.”

They spent another long stretch of time in silence during which Hill made her third check. Once she had been gone for a few minutes, Loki turned around again only this time he didn’t say a word. If Tony didn’t know any better he’d say that he was checking him out.

“Like what you see?” he asked with a cocky grin.

“Hmm,” Loki smirked, “but that would be telling.”

At that, Tony actually all out laughed. “Well, you know, Hill shouldn’t be back here for another 15 minutes. Ball’s in your court,” he joked.

“Maybe. Why don’t we play a game?” 

If you had asked him earlier, Tony would have said point blank that he was straight. It was hard for him to make that claim, though, when Loki could make the simplest phrase sound seductive as fuck. It had to be the accent. Otherwise he would have probably noticed before how the dude who sat near him in Calculus (he remembered the class, finally) was pretty much sex on two legs. “Uh...sure. What did you have in mind.”

“Well, my first thought was truth or dare, but it’s not very easy to do a dare in this situation. How about...never have I ever?”

“Haha sounds good. I’m going to loose, I’m telling you now.”

Loki just chuckled as they both held up their hands. “I’ll start. Never have I ever started a fight.”

Tony glared, putting a finger down. “That was a cheap shot. Never have I ever...had sex with a guy.”

Loki raised an eyebrow and dropped a finger. Tony tried to keep his expression carefully schooled. “Never have I ever cheated on someone.”

This time no one put a finger down and Tony certainly didn’t feel his heart leap a little at Loki’s answering half smile. “Never have I ever went streaking.”

Loki rolled his eyes this time when he put a finger down. “Never have I ever tried LSD.”

There wasn’t really a way to surreptitiously put a finger down when only two people are playing, so Tony just had to own it like he wasn’t concerned what Loki thought about drug experimentation. For how young he was, Tony’s lack of any and all supervision made it possible for him to have what one might call a typical high school experience. “Never have I ever...had someone stay over at my house.”

Loki slowly put a finger down, giving him a strange look. “Are you serious?” he asked.

“Actually, I’ve never even had someone over to my house.” 

“Why not?”

Before Tony had to think of a lie, he saw Hill’s reflection out of the corner of his eye and both boys quickly sat properly in their seats and did their best to look thoroughly bored. She left soon enough, not having said a word.

“Now, where were we?” Loki asked, turning back around, “Ah you were having an unfortunate childhood. Never have I ever eaten staples.”

Tony burst into a fit of laughter. “You can’t think of anything, can you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s your turn.”

“Okay, never have I ever been in jail.”

Loki huffed as he put a finger down. 

“There’s a story behind that.”

“Yes. One day I may tell it to you,” Loki smirked, “Never have I ever performed oral sex on a girl.”

This was one that Tony had no shame with, putting a finger down with a shrug. “Never have I ever lost a science competition.”

“I don’t think that it really counts if one has never _been_ in a science competition.”

“Fine. Do I get a do-over?”

“Hmm...fine,” Loki conceded, as if he was giving Tony some great privilege. 

“Never have I ever done a school sport.”

No one put down a finger, and it was Loki’s turn again. “Never have I ever been to California.”

Tony put down a finger. “Never have I ever sailed a ship.”

“Who in our generation is concerned with sailing ships?” Loki asked incredulously.

“Ugh, I don’t know. This game is stupid.”

“You only say that because you’re losing. Never have I ever blown something up,” Loki said, sure that he had come up with a dud only to be surprised when Tony actually put a finger down. 

“Never have I ever cooked for myself.”

“What?! Really, you don’t make yourself food or have people over - do you live in a prison? If you’re locked in a dungeon somewhere do let me know, you can live in my car if you’d like,” Loki laughed. 

“No. Definitely...almost...not a dungeon,” Tony replied, thinking of his room in the basement of Stark manor. Conveniently out of the way of his parents at all times. Members of the house staff brought him food whenever he was hungry. 

“Never have I ever donated blood.”

For once, it seemed, Tony didn’t have to put a finger down. He was too young to donate blood without written permission from his parents, and he wasn’t about to bother them for something like that. “Never have I ever done the splits.”

Loki put a finger down and Tony could have sworn he blushed a little. Imagining Loki that flexible did not do good things for his internal identity crisis. “Never have I ever made it a week without sleep, try as I may.” 

When Tony put a finger down, Loki scoffed.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I get distracted.”

“Distracted. By what, pray tell?”

“Mmm...I dunno...inventing things, mostly.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah, so...never have I ever danced on a stripper pole,” Tony said, laughing at his own question.

“So, you think I moonlight as a stripper?” Loki asked with a raise of his eyebrow.

“Hey, if you’re flexible enough to do the splits...”

“You just wanted an excuse to imagine me on a stripper pole. Never have I ever drank absinth.”

Tony put a finger down with a small giggle, remembering that night. He had had to stay over at Steve’s house because he was too drunk to get himself home. “Never have I ever stayed over at a girl’s house.”

Loki put a finger down, smiling as he did so.

“Whose house did you stay at?” Tony couldn’t help asking.

It was oddly endearing when Loki rolled his eyes and smiled at the same time. “It hasn’t been just one girl’s house. There have been plenty of parties that I’ve had to crash at the hostess’ house. Purposefully, though, just my best friend Natasha’s house.”

“Natasha Romanoff?” 

“The one and only. Never have I ever participated in an orgy.”

“Do people even arrange those? Well, do high schoolers even arrange those?” Tony asked with a smirk.

“I do not know. Would you like to set one up with me?” Loki asked, emerald eyes meeting Tony’s brown eyes in a manner that was not entirely appropriate. Tony wasn’t going to let this guy make him lose his cool, though. Not this time, at least. He was a Stark, dammit.

“With pleasure. You find a place and I’ll gather as many attractive people as I can.”

Loki smiled and moved to hang upside down from his desk. _Fuck his neck is attractive. How can someone have an attractive_ neck _?!_ Tony thought, trying to quickly think of something so that he could distract himself from the attractive man across from him.

“Never have I ever been able to watch all 8 Harry Potter movies in one day.”

“It is a near impossible task,” Loki sighed, as though it was something he wished he could accomplish. 

“I take it you like Harry Potter?”

“Who doesn’t?!”

“True.”

“Never have I ever finished a fifth in one night. I’ve come close, but it still stands.”

Tony shook his head, slightly laughing as he put down yet another finger. 

“That’s only one finger left, Anthony,” Loki said with a devilish grin.

“Don’t call me Anthony. Only my parents and their friends call me Anthony. Never have I ever had hair that went past my chin.”

“No one likes a sore loser,” Loki said as he put a finger down, sweeping back his near shoulder length hair, “Never have I ever had to shave.”

“That is your ace in the hole, isn’t it?! How is it that you’ve never had to shave, what the hell?” Tony asked, slightly grinning still - it had been a fun game. 

“My mother said that one of my birth parents was Native American. I can’t say I’m not grateful.”

“Oh, you’re adopted? I didn’t know that.”

“Yes...I didn’t find out until two years ago, though. It was...not a very good time in my life,” Loki admitted quietly. Tony just nodded, not wanting to pry. Thankfully Assistant Principal Hill seemed to have perfect timing.

“You two may go now. Loki, in the future please do not sit on top of desks. We don’t want to have to replace it when you break it,” she said, almost in passing, before walking away. 

Loki flipped himself off of the table with the skill of a gymnast. “I think she just called me fat.”

“I think if she thinks you’re fat she’s probably going to develop an eating disorder.”

Loki’s laughter rang through the halls as they exited the school. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you guys think, I'm especially worried about this one as far as ooc goes. Thanks so much for reading! :]


	2. Dead on Arrival

**_Monday_ **

It took an awful lot for someone to truly get on Tony Stark’s radar, and he never wanted to admit when it happened. So if Steve, his best friend, thought that he was a little keyed up when they met before fifth hour - well, he would never admit to anything. That’s how he found himself sitting at his desk in calculus, twirling his pen between his fingers at an alarming speed. _I should probably go home...work on something...there’s too much tension...I can’t -_ Tony interrupted his own thoughts when Loki walked into the room and sat in the seat across from him. 

“Hey,” he says in greeting, nothing better coming to mind. His pen twirling becomes more intricate and increases in speed. 

“Hello...how are you- if you can switch hands and keep doing that, I will be amazed,” Loki said, eyes not leaving Tony’s hand as he dropped his things onto his desk with a loud thump. 

With a smirk Tony did just that, feeling much better about the whole situation. Just one sentence out of the guys mouth and he was suddenly at ease again. He tried not to think about the implications behind that fact. It’s hard enough to keep his mind from analyzing, reanalyzing, and overanalyzing everything as it is without adding a possible _crush_ into the mix. 

“That is impressive. If only we were out of this class...” Loki sighed.

“Not a math person?” Tony would never be able to understand how someone could not understand and do well with math. However, he would be the first to admit his own bias. 

“Not at all. I’ve been working tooth and nail to pass this class,” he replied, beginning to drum his fingers on his desk as he stared at the whiteboard with distaste.

“Gotcha. What is it you’re planning on doing once we’re out of here?”

“Mmm...maybe writing...maybe art...I don’t really know. Certainly not _politics_.”

Tony didn’t get the chance to ask Loki what he had against politics, as class began. Math came naturally to Tony and he was confident that he could do today’s homework easily, so instead of paying attention to the lecture he watched Loki out of the corner of his eye. He was paying rapt attention, scribbling down notes with a fervor in an attempt to catch absolutely everything the teacher said. If asked, he couldn’t say he noticed the way his hair elegantly fell over one shoulder or the cute way his eyebrows pushed together as he tried to concentrate. Nope, not in the slightest. With an absentminded lick of his lips, though, Tony just tossed the towel. Who was he trying to kid, anyway? Loki Odinson did not have the right to be so appealing. He was just beginning to wonder if many others, girl or guy, were in the same line of thinking as him when his thoughts were interrupted by the bell ringing. Well that went by rather quickly. He threw all of his things into his backpack and looked up to see Loki, already packed, heading toward the door. 

“Uh...what class do you have next?” Tony asked, catching up to him. Were they friends now or was he just being annoyingly intrusive? Sometimes it was hard to tell. Usually he didn’t care either way, but things were obviously going to be very different when it came to Loki. He had yet to find out if it would be a good different or not. 

“AP Lit...you?” he asked, pausing once they got out of the classroom.

“Oh, I have Spanish IV.”

Loki’s reply was a simple nod of the head before he turned around and headed for class. Passing time was relatively short and they were both almost late. Once Tony got into Spanish and sat down in his usual seat next to Steve, he began to slowly bang his head against the desk. What. The. Hell. Was. Happening?!

By the time school let out and he arrived at the manor he was no closer to an answer. He tried to distract himself, first working on the coding for his AI before hitting a roadblock, and then disassembling and reassembling the engine to one of his dad’s cars - just needing something to do with his hands. He had built his first engine from scratch when he was six. Bioshock Infinite couldn’t hold his attention. Trolling people on reddit wasn’t really funny. Steve couldn’t hang out because he was busy playing disc golf with his friend Bucky. Tony had no intention of playing some outdoor sport...thing. Finally he gave up, going to bed at the obscenely early hour of 11:40pm. He didn’t get to sleep until well past 3 in the morning, lying awake and staring at the ceiling. All of his thoughts revolved around Loki.

 

* * *

 

What the young genius obviously didn’t know was how distracted said boy was with thoughts of him. Loki had a tendency to flirt with anyone and everyone if it suited his interests or if he was just in one of those moods. He couldn’t deny being incredibly attracted to Tony, though...a kid he barely even knew. It really wasn’t the best timing, so close to the end of school...not to mention he already had a boyfriend.

Loki had been dating Fandral for about 9 months now. He wouldn’t classify it as the best relationship he’d ever been in, but on some level he still felt something for the man. Fandral was 19 years old and was in community college. When they met, Loki had remembered him vaguely from when he was an underclassman. He had had a penchant for violence even then. 

Loki bit his lip as he ignored a call from said boyfriend. Now was really not the time. Really, he didn’t even know why he was thinking so much about this. Tony seemed to be typically straight and even if he wasn’t, who’s to say he liked him back? 

 

**_Tuesday_ **

This time when he entered the math classroom, Loki made sure to greet Tony first. It appeared that he was very distracted, writing things very quickly on the back of an old handout. When Loki said hello Tony nearly jumped out of his skin.

“Oh...oh shit, hey,” he replied, shoving the piece of paper into his backpack.

“That seemed important,” Loki commented, not wanting to pry but feeling the need to at least say _something_. 

“Ah, right. That was my idea for loyalty.”

He couldn’t even pretend he knew what was going on now. Staring at Tony with his hand on his chin, any context he could think of for that sentence made absolutely no sense.

“Oh wait, it’s code. Like for computers. I’m making an Artificial Intelligence system and I’ve been working on personality coding...if that makes more sense,” Tony said, noticing his confusion. 

“Well then, that is quite impressive. I didn’t know that emotions and feelings were so simple as to be made numbers in some computer sequence,” he joked.

“It’s not really like that, there’s source content that is mainly inflection based-”

“Do you have a code for lust?” Loki asked, raising an eyebrow and trying not to smirk. Fine, he was starting to flirt again so be it. 

“What?” Tony looked momentarily taken aback, “Why would I want my AI to lust after people...or things or whatever?” 

Loki couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle, and Tony caught on.

“Dude, not cool. You just glimpsed something that may change technology as we know it. I think that deserves some respect.”

“How shall I show this respect, than?” Loki asked, but once again class had to start and their banter was interrupted. It was strange that he had the urge to be in detention again just to have extended time to talk with Tony. Though, really, detention is not necessary for that. For some reason asking him if he wanted to hang out made Loki feel like he would be crossing into some point of no return. He had proudly made it this long without ever cheating on someone whom he considered himself to be in a real relationship with, but he had also never been in this situation. It’s not like he was in love with either of of them - there wasn’t an incredible pull in any one direction. Would he rather stay with Fandral for the rest of high school and possibly most of the summer, or would he like to take the chance and see if there was anything there with Tony? He just didn’t know. Loki was startled when the bell rang. He had been so wrapped up in his head that he had completely missed the lecture and hadn’t taken a single note. Shit.

“Zone out, there?” Tony asked him. It was only then that Loki realized that everyone was either leaving the room or at least had all of their things packed up.

“Yes, you could say that...”

“Well, luckily for you I actually took notes today. I think it was the first time I’ve ever taken notes in this class, actually. I got a lot of strange looks.” Without another word, Tony shoved the notes into his hands. Loki somehow lost the ability to function, mouth hanging open as he kept switching back and forth from looking at the notes to looking at Tony. He hadn’t said it directly, but Tony had _taken notes for him_. 

“I- thank you,” Loki stuttered, finally remembering what mouths were for. 

“No problem. It was kind of fun. Not personality coding fun, but like...show off fun,” Tony replied as he finally began to pack his things. At this rate he would definitely be late to AP Literature. 

“Show off how?” Loki chuckled. He was quickly getting comfortable again. 

“Hmm...you’ll see.” Those were Tony’s parting words as they went their separate ways to head to their respective classes. One glance at the clock in the hall had Loki running to his class, skidding to a halt as he reached the door. Natasha looked up at him from her desk in the back of the room. The teacher had already started - he was late. He didn’t appreciate how pissed off Nat looked. 

“Where were you?” she whispered as he sat down.

“I zoned off a bit last hour and then talked to a friend in the hall after class,” Loki quietly replied as he did his best to take out his things without making too much noise. 

“Loki. What are you doing?” she asked, face somehow able to get even more serious than she was before. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he lied, looking away and acting as though what the teacher was droning on about Hemingway was incredibly interesting. The unfortunate thing about his and Natasha’s relationship was that sometimes he could swear she knew him better than he knew himself. Of course, that went both ways, but that wasn’t one of his current concerns. 

“You like someone,” she hissed, “and until you break if off with your deadbeat loser boyfriend you can’t go around smiling like that and talking about ‘friends’ that you talk to in the hallways.”

Interesting. Loki hadn’t even realized he had been smiling. Maybe Natasha was right, this was getting out of hand and he didn’t have a decision. He still didn’t have a decision many hours later when he lay awake in bed. Being who he was, naturally Loki had many secrets. Natasha knew them all...which meant Clint, her boyfriend, probably also knew a fair share of them. She’s the one who held his hair back at parties when he had too much to drink, the one who bailed him out of jail that one time - well, maybe that’s a story for another time. The point is, Natasha knew everything which meant she knew everything about his relationship with Fandral. No one, aside from his idiotic brother during one of his more moronic moments, would ever call Loki a pushover. So not even he knew why he let Fandral treat him the way he did. Nat and Clint were not fans, which really sucked sometimes. 

Needless to say, Loki did not get a lot of sleep that night. 

 

**_Wednesday_ **

Tired and clinging to his venti cup of Starbucks coffee as if it were a life preserver, Loki sat down next to Natasha gracelessly on their usual bench. Every morning before school they would sit here and talk. Clint had a 0 hour archery course, so he wasn’t around. He had nothing against him, all 3 of them were great friends, but sometimes Loki really enjoyed time to just talk to Nat one on one. It was like a little slice of nostalgia before they had responsibilities and significant others. 

“You look...well...a little bit like a dementor,” Natasha laughed as he took a long sip of his drink. His responding glare was halfhearted at best. “Alright Loki, what’s up?”

“You were right,” he said as way of explanation.

“I’m always right. About what this time, though?”

“I like somebody.”

“You seriously aren’t telling me you spent all night thinking about him like a lovesick preteen,” Natasha said with raised eyebrows.

“No, whore. I’ve been trying to figure out what to do about him versus Fandral.”

“You know what I’m going to say.”

“Yes, I do...but I feel you’re not considering every eventuality.”

“Of course not, you haven’t told me who this mystery boy is. Once I know that I can make an assessment.”

“I don’t know his last name-”

“Seriously you’re getting all hot and bothered over some kid who you don’t even know well enough to-”

“-but his first name is Tony.”

“Oh,” she paused, looking incredibly contemplative if only for a moment. Loki wasn’t sure how he felt about this. Natasha made it her job to know everybody’s business - if you wanted to find something out or confirm something about someone, she was who you’d go to. 

“Yes?” he prompted when it seemed like she was taking too long.

“I don’t know as much as I’d like about him...but I do know more than most. I would...tread lightly.”

 

* * *

 

Tony really hated how anxious he now was every time he walked into his calculus class. At least today other kids looked just as anxious - they were getting their last test back, and it had been the last one before the final. He wasn’t worried about it in the slightest, but for others this was going to be the main indication of whether or not they would pass the class - at some point it doesn’t matter how hard you study for the final if your grade is so low you’d have to get an extremely high grade to pass. 

As soon as Loki walked through the door, Tony both calmed considerably and had an entirely new wave of anxiety wash over him. He noticed that Loki looked just as tired as he felt. Even though he had gotten considerably more sleep than he had the night before, it still didn’t amount to much. 

“Hey, what’s up?” he said, allowing what he hoped wasn’t an over eager smile.

“I want to go home and crawl into a ball,” Loki said, immediately laying his head in his arms once he sat down. He turned to face Tony with tired eyes and an oddly curious expression. “How are you?”

“Well, my parents left on a business-vacation-type thing...so that’s...whatever.”

“At least now you have the house to yourself...unless you also have annoying siblings...though at least now my brother is away at college.”

“Mmm...I don’t have siblings, but I’ll have about as much house to myself as ever I suppose. Could probably walk around and see what’s changed...” Tony started muttering to himself near the end. He was hardly ever outside of the basement, aside from the time it took to get in and out of the house. The staff would still be there when his parents were away in France, but it wasn’t as if he was expressly forbidden to be in the manor proper. Things just...went more smoothly if he stayed as out of the way as possible.

Loki looked like he was about to say something, but then the class was called to order. It was hard for him not to notice how tense Loki was all throughout class. Since their teacher obviously liked to watch everyone suffer, tests weren’t passed back until after the day’s lecture. 

 

* * *

 

It felt like a small eternity, but finally class was near over and the tests were passed back. Loki felt his insides squirming uncomfortably. If he didn’t do well on this test, he didn’t know how he was going to pass the class. His father would be _furious_ if he ended up having to retake the course over the summer before he could officially graduate. He envied Tony’s calm.

Then before he was really mentally prepared, the test was sitting upside down on his desk. He glanced over to see Tony making a very complicated paper airplane out of the first page. With a deep sigh, he flipped it over. Damn - 68%...that’s not even in the C range. 

“What’s wrong?”

He whipped his head around, immediately moving his test so that it was less easy to view. Oh, right...just Tony. Loki hadn’t realized that he had allowed his expression to slip into one of disappointment. “I...didn’t do very well on the test,” he admitted reluctantly. 

“Oh.” It wouldn’t have been a very good reply under most circumstances, but with the way Tony’s expression turned thoughtful gave him terrifying deja vu. “I could tutor you, if you want?” he offered. 

Loki’s initial reaction, and what was probably the safest option, was to simply say ‘no thank you’ and figure out this calculus thing in his own time. Then, however, he remembered Tony’s notes from the other day. Not only did he do a perfect transcription of what the teacher said and wrote on the whiteboard, but he also made his own little notes explaining things better and in more detail, and commenting on mistakes that their teacher had made. So what ended up coming out of his mouth was;

“Sure. When would you like to start?”

“Whenever you want. I don’t have anything going on after school this week, so we could even start today.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for all of your wonderful reviews and everyone who left kudos and just everything! I'm sorry for the wait, hopefully I will be able to get these out faster. Let me know what you think!!


	3. Grand Theft Autumn

 

**_Wednesday cont._ **

The last place Tony had expected he’d find himself when he woke up today had been at Loki Odinson’s actual house. Then again, he also hadn’t known he’d be offering him tutoring either. It had been awkward, though, when they met in the parking lot after school. Loki had asked him whose house he would prefer to go to, and when he had told him ‘yours’ the boy had suddenly remembered Tony saying that he had never had anyone over to his house in their game of ‘never have I ever’. Yeah, that wasn’t embarrassing at all...not. 

Sometimes Tony really hated being Anthony Edward Stark. 

Loki lived in a really nice house not incredibly far from school. Their front yard had a well-kept and beautiful garden, and the house itself had two stories and a basement. Inside it was decorated tastefully, but with a lot more...Tony didn’t really know what to call it. Homeyness? The kitchen didn’t look like it belonged in a restaurant - it was (probably) actually used by his mom and not chefs or house staff or whatever. They also had pictures on the wall. Not just art, either - his parents had plenty of expensive art. These were pictures of their family. 

It’s not like this was a complete culture shock to him. That had happened the first time Tony had went to Steve’s house last year. Still, he didn’t go to other people’s houses often so he always managed to initially be surprised of the differences. 

“So...we could work in the dining room, the basement, or my room if you’d like,” Loki said after they had taken off their shoes and walked through the living room. It was immaculate - most likely only really used when guests were over. That Tony understood. 

“Uh...I don’t know, wherever you find it easiest to concentrate I guess.” Well, he wasn’t called a genius for nothing but he hadn’t thought that skirting himself around overeagerly getting himself into a guys bedroom would be a way in which he applied the word. Still, he couldn’t help but feel he sounded like he really knew what he was doing; he had never tutored someone before.

“Hmmm...we’ll go to my room first so that I can put away some things, then maybe the basement.”

Loki’s room was the complete opposite of his own. Dark stained hardwood floor, dark green walls with dark blackout curtains shoved aside to let light in. One wall was pretty much entirely a bookshelf, and his closet had dark ornate doors. The rest of the space was largely taken up by a desk and full bed. Tony was starting to see a pattern with the black and green bedding. Then again, he also had a gold floor lamp and the ornate inlays on his headboard were inlayed with gold. Also, the place was immaculate. He didn’t know if it was common for teenagers to have rooms that were this...mature? Was that the right word? 

“Your room is awesome,” he commented, sitting down on Loki’s bed and looking around. When Loki turned around from where he was putting things on top of his desk, he had an unreadable expression as he stared at him for a few moments. “Loki?”

“Oh...thank you. I’m sorry, I just...zoned out for a moment.” 

There seemed to be a million and one questions he wanted to ask Loki, which was strange because he would be the first to admit how self-centered he is. Where did he live before this that he had an accent? What were all of his books about? What does he do for fun besides reading? How did he end up going to jail? The question on the forefront of his mind, however, related to a picture shoved into a small space between the wall and window. In it, Loki is looking thoroughly annoyed and holding a hand up to block the flash while a blonde guy with carefully groomed facial hair had his arm around Loki’s hips and making an obnoxious face while waving at the camera. Tony put on his poker face. 

“Who’s that?” he asked, pointing at the photograph in question. Loki looked at it as if he had never seen it before and it had sprung out of thin air.

“Ah...that’s Fandral. We are...dating.” 

Poker. Face. ( _P-p-p-poker face, my p-poker face - dammit!!_ )

“Uh that’s cool. He must not go to school with us.” Tony may, for the most part, not care about anyone but he did make sure to know who everyone was. 

“No, he’s in cc. He graduated two years ago.”

“Right...err...you ready?” He totally didn’t feel his heart sink when Loki told him he had a boyfriend. That would be ridiculous. 

“Oh, of course.”

 

**_Thursday_ **

“Do you still want to come over after school?” Loki asked him when he sat down in calculus. After what Tony finally admits was a really sucky revelation, they had gotten a lot of calculus tutoring stuff done. 

“Yeah, of course,” he replied. Just because Loki wasn’t single (which by the way what was he even planning on doing about that in the first place - there had been no _plan_ ) didn’t mean they couldn’t be friends and that he would stop helping him pass calc. 

“Good.” Okay. He totally didn’t have the right to smile at him like that. People in relationships shouldn’t get to smile at him as if he just made their day. 

Class went by uneventfully, as did the rest of the day. Before he knew it he was at Loki’s house again. This time his mother was home. As they made their way to the basement she had given them homemade cookies and told Tony to call her Frigga. Once they got downstairs, he excused himself to go to the bathroom because he was having a mild anxiety attack. He didn’t know when this started happening, but he usually tried to keep himself away from things he knew triggered them. It wasn’t often that he was in situations where he interacted with a normal, proper, loving family. He hadn’t really at all until he convinced his parents to let him go to public school. Being reminded of how his life was in comparison to normal people’s...it had become a trigger awhile ago. Maybe this whole thing was a bad idea.

Eventually things migrated back to how they had been yesterday, and they were sprawled on the floor of Loki’s basement with books and notes scattered about them. 

“What do you usually do right now?” Loki asked, rolling onto his back and looking up at Tony from upside down. 

“Well...I would probably be working on my AI. If not that, maybe making something else or else just playing video games or like...the internet.”

“Ah, so I’m preventing great technological advancement the likes that none have seen?” Loki smirked. 

“Yeah, Lo’. If we don’t have flying cars by 2020, it’s your fault.”

“Oh really?” his smirk only widened, “So I’ll be distracting you until 2020? Don’t you think that’s a bit presumptuous?”

“Well, not necessarily until 2020. I’d have to design the car first and look over the initial blueprints from the-”

“Alright, alright. If you start talking like that I’m really just nodding along until you shut up.”

“You wound me,” Tony joked. 

“I am _terribly_ sorry,” Loki said as he flipped over and got back into a sitting position, “how shall I make it up to you?”

He crawled over and sat down next to Tony, who was just completely starstruck. How does Loki’s voice even _do_ that? And it wasn’t even very seductive but fucking crawling over like...just, damn. _This guy is going to be the death of me_. 

“Well...what can we use as currency?” he found himself asking suddenly.

“Currency?”

“Yeah, like doing favours or telling secrets or-”

“Secrets. I like secrets.”

“Why would you pick that one? You’re going to have to tell me one now.”

“Because I know there will be an opportunity for me to use it later. You have a lot of secrets Tony. What’s your last name?”

“Hey!” he began deflecting, “This is my secret time-”

“Oh god you don’t know how that sounds. That’s what s-”

“-and besides I’m like...the Doctor. It’s just Tony. Tony who? Just Tony.”

“Or just Anthony.” Cocky bastard has that smirk back on his face. 

“So Loki, what’s the story behind you going to jail?” That made him lose the smirk pretty quickly. He actually didn’t think he’d yet to see Loki with his mouth agape like it was now. 

“Let’s just do favours.”

“Nope, it’s secrets. Jail?”

“Fine,” he huffed like a petulant child, “last year my ex and I - well, he wasn’t my ex at the time but whatever - we were leaving this party. He was high on...I don’t even remember. It was several things. I was 89% sober, so I was driving. Then he gets this idea that we should pull off to the side of the road for some reason or another. He was pretty insistent upon it and I didn’t want him to puke in my car if that’s what was going to happen, but no. He just starts running through the field we’re next to, and before I know it he’s taking off his clothes. If he wasn’t too fucked up to use a cell phone I would have just left him there. Unfortunately that was my boyfriend running naked through some poor family’s farm and I had to collect him. So it’s 3 in the morning and I am sprinting after this drugged up lunatic who, by the way, had started screaming the lyrics to ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’. I guarantee you that I was very _very_ sober at this point. I almost had him, too, when the cops showed up. Actually I had expected and even hoped that they would show up, but I didn’t think they’d incarcerate me as well. I had to tell the story 5 times in great detail to an array of officials before they believed I hadn’t been involved, really, in...the Incident. And that is all. We will never speak of it again - you are sworn to secrecy.”

“Ahahahahaha,” Tony couldn’t keep himself from not laughing, but Loki’s responding glare helped a little “okay, okay I’ll take it to the grave. That was the most hilarious story I’ve ever heard! That’s better than my absinth story, and I didn’t think anything could top that.”

“Ah yes, I remember this from our game. Do tell,” Loki said, leaning closer, his chin resting on his hand. 

 _Ugh he’s doing it again_. Tony knew better, though. He was considered a genius, after all. If Loki was busy wondering about what happened the night he drank absinth, he would be less likely to focus on finding out who he really was. 

“One day I may tell you,” Tony replied, mimicking Loki’s previous words.

“Touche.” There was something akin to respect in that reply. It was strange, but not anxiety inducing strange. More...interesting. 

 

**_Friday_ **

“Are you PMSing or something? You’ve been in some sort of mood all day,” Tony complained.

They were in Loki’s bedroom since for some reason his mother felt the carpets needed to be cleaned. He was lying sideways on his bed as Loki sat in his desk chair, drumming his fingers violently against the arm. It was starting to get annoying, he had been doing it in calculus too. 

“Is this supposed to improve my mood?” Wow he could sound threatening. 

“Alright, fine. If you don’t want to talk about it I’m not going to make you, but I think I’m going to go,” he replied, getting up and heading toward the door before Loki grabbed his wrist and pulled him back.

“I drove you here.”

“You do know that I don’t teleport back to my house or pull out a magic car from somewhere, right?”

“Don’t go,” Loki asked softly, his expression finally softening. Tony had to fight the urge to grab him by the shoulders and shake him, demanding for him to tell him what he wanted, what was his play? All of this was only making his crush on the guy worse, not helping him accept that Loki was in a relationship with some Fandral guy.

“Alright,” he agreed, sitting back down on the bed. His eyes didn’t move away from Loki for a second.

“Right...I’m just a little upset with Fandral.” _Oh hey, speak of the...think of the devil._

 “A _little_?!”

“Fine. Quite upset. I’ve heard from various reliable sources that he had went to some club with this girl, her name is Sif apparently, and that it...did not seem to be a platonic outing.”

“Dude, you need to teach me how to talk like that.”

“What?!!”

“All fancy, I swear you should get paid to read Shakespeare.”

“Can you not focus on the topic at hand, or are you more interested in my accent and the fact that I have and actually _use_ my extended vocabulary?” Loki spat. Shit, he is not someone to piss off.

“No, no, sorry. Fandral is cheating on you with some chick.”

“It’s likely, yes. He was never exactly boyfriend of the year material in the first place. I would never have him come over here and meet my parents, gods. That would be a disaster. He has no etiquette and no filter. I would never describe him as a gentlemen, either. Then again I doubt I fit into that category. He’s always late or he blows me off entirely - I know what you’re about to say and I swear, Tony, I will chuck this book at your head. He wouldn’t answer my calls or respond to my texts last night, so it’s likely I’ll have to corner him in order to get an explanation.”

“That sucks, Lo’. Why don’t you just dump him? The guy sounds like a dick.”

“That’s what Natasha said as well.”

“Natasha knows what she’s talking about.”

“There’s...its just...there are some really good qualities about him as well. He can be really nice and-”

“Good sex is not a reason to let yourself be treated like shit.”

Loki glared at him for a moment before he sighed and stood up from his chair only to collapse next to Tony on the bed. 

“Ugh I don’t know what I’m doing,” his voice was muffled by the fact that he was talking to the mattress. 

“You should break up with your cheating asshole boyfriend.”

“But I-”

“Loki.”

“Tony.”

“Shut up.”

 

**_Saturday_ **

Even though it’s the weekend, Tony still meets Loki at the library to do some tutoring for a couple of hours. It’s a really nice sunny day, but since neither of them are particularly interested in the outdoors this suits them just fine. It is, however, still the weekend and they become quickly distracted. Especially Loki, who Tony has decided should never try to accomplish anything when surrounded by this many books.

“Did you know that Hemingway actually preferred to write the first drafts of his works with a number 2 pencil?” Loki asked as he walked backwards down a random aisle, one hand grazing the books as he passed them.

“Nope. We do have that in common, though.”

“Did you know that in the book Les Miserable there is a single sentence that is 823 words long?”

“No? I’ve never even read that book.”

“Oh, but you should.”

“I saw the movie.”

“It’s not the same,” Loki argued.

“Pity.” To that Loki just scoffed. His excitement was pretty quick to return, though.

“Did you know that ‘e’ is the most used letter in the alphabet?”

“That I did know,” Tony smiled at finally being able to say that.

“Well did you know that Ernest Vincent Wright wrote a 50,000 word novel called Gadsby that doesn’t contain a single ‘e’?”

“What? No. There’s no way that’s possible.” 

Loki finally paused his walking touch-inventory of the library (or whatever it was he was doing). “Shall we find out?” he asked once Tony caught up with him.

“Huh...I guess we are here...but I don’t know if it’s really worth it, we should be-” Tony never got to finish that sentence, as Loki suddenly had him pinned against one of the bookshelves.

“Do you know how difficult it is to avoid using that letter?” he asked, voice suddenly at a very library appropriate volume.

“Uhm...very?”

“Oh yes, very. Especially when you see it everywhere all the time. You practically seek it out.”

“Wait...what?”

“It’s practically begging to be written, but you must avoid it in favour of other...less desirable letters.”

“I don’t think we’re talking about Ernest Wright anymore, are we?” Tony inquired, though really at this point he was just stating the obvious. Having Loki this close to him did not do anything for enhancing his brain power. He could feel his breath on his face, cool and oddly minty...not to mention those eyes, it was as if he was in some kind of trance. That wasn’t even a bad thing. Bring on the trance!

“No, we’re not.” Without another word, Loki had pushed himself back off of the bookshelf and began walking back to the table where they had been working on math. 

 

**_Sunday_ **

You know what? This was a good thing. At least, that’s what Tony tried telling himself as he tried to concentrate on the coding for his AI. Loki hadn’t called or texted anything to set up a study session, so that was probably it. Which was fine. It gave him more time to invent things, you know, things he did before he met Loki Odinson. Plus, Mr. Banner had said something about an extra credit assignment. It wasn’t like he needed it, he was doing fine in Physics, but it would probably be fun. 

He wondered what Loki would think of him doing homework for fun, or what Loki would think of his AI being coded with the ability to be sarcastic. _Ugh since when did the world revolve around Loki?!_ he asked himself. This was bordering on pathetic. He should just text or call him...you know, to see what’s up. He stared at his phone for a good 3 minutes, it felt, before he pressed the call button.

“Hello?”

“Hey Steve, it’s Tony. What’s up?”

 

* * *

 

“I never want to see that fucking asshole ever again!” Loki shouted, chucking one of Natasha’s pillows violently against a wall. 

“I like your attitude, we should go fuck up his car,” Clint said, twirling a dart in his hand before throwing it. Bullseye.

They were in Natasha’s basement and Loki did not want to leave anytime soon. It had been a long and trying day. He had finally been able to corner Fandral and in the end they had ended up screaming at each other for almost an hour. It wasn’t very productive. 

“So are you guys finally done, then?” Natasha asked, plopping down next to him with a bowl of popcorn. 

“...not in so many words.” 

“Loki, what the hell?! Are you like those chicks that keep staying in abusive relationships even when they have the ability to leave? Because I will totally intervention your ass.” When he went to grab some popcorn, she pulled the bowl out of his reach.

“Nat, I will. I just wasn’t thinking straight...too busy yelling and arguing to actually do something about the situation. In the end I just threw a hot dog at his face and drove off.”

“Wait, what now?” Clint stopped playing darts (by himself) in order to finally pay attention to the conversation. 

“We were by a hot dog stand,” Loki explained. 

“And you had ordered a hot dog?”

“No, he ordered a hot dog when I was walking up. I ripped it out of his hand pretty much as soon as we started talking.”

“So you’re telling me you threw the man’s hot dog at him and sped off into the sunset?” Clint clarified. 

“In a nutshell, yes.”

“Loki, you are a fucking badass. Remind me to never get on your bad side.”

“Oh, don’t worry Clint. Natasha is much more capable of causing harm than I am, I fear,” Loki said with a smirk. Clint glanced at Natasha, who simply sighed with a small smile on her face before leaning her head onto Loki’s shoulder. Clint very slowly and carefully grabbed some popcorn, like she was going to spring up and attack at any moment. 

 

**_Monday_ **

Loki strode into his Calculus classroom with purpose, turned into the first row instead of the second, and slammed his hands on Tony’s desk. As he predicted, it about gave the boy a heart attack. 

“Woah! Shit! Loki, what the hell?!!”

“Are you coming over today?” he asked, simply.

“What?” Ah, so unexpected loud noises confuse him. Good to know.

“I want you to come over today. Are you?”

“Oh, well...yeah, I guess?”

“Good enough,” Loki decided, jumping lithely over the bar on his desk that attached the chair to the table top. During class he took just as detailed notes as before, but now he found that he was understanding a lot more of what the teacher was saying. If only he had met Tony at the beginning of the semester...

The rest of the day was just tense minutes waiting for school to end. Natasha kept eyeing him in AP Lit, and he was sure she was going to say something to him when the bell rang. So two minutes beforehand he just walked out of the room. Problem solved. Soon enough, he and Tony were in his room working on todays homework and some things that had confused Loki on the last test. 

He sat next to Tony on his bed, leaning over to see how he was doing the problem. To say he was nervous was an understatement. He was only about 80% sure that Tony liked him back, and the last time he had seen him he almost made out with him against a library bookshelf. This was going to end now; as soon as he knows whether Tony actually likes him or not he can proceed accordingly. Loki didn’t like being unable to see all of his options and the possibilities they possessed. Clint called it ‘plotting’. Natasha called it ‘good planning’. 

“-and there. That’s pretty much how it’s done.” Loki tuned back into what Tony was actually saying instead of being wrapped up in his own nerves. 

“Is it?” There wasn’t a skill yet that Loki couldn’t master if given time and incentive. Math may be difficult, but this he was good at. Words were an art form.

“Uh...yeah. So wanna try it?”

“I will definitely be trying it.” Loki slowly moved closer, eyes never leaving Tony’s - if he had wanted to he could have already stopped him by now.

“Alright, I think...there’s...some more practice problems in the...back...of...the-” Tony didn’t get to finish his sentence. Instead Loki kissed him, immediately pulling him closer. He would never say he was displeased with Tony’s response - he was actually almost ecstatic, which worried him slightly. How was he already in so deep? 

Tony kissed him back and a hand found it’s way into Loki’s hair, the other on his thigh. Loki let out an almost inaudible moan and within moments Tony’s tongue was in his mouth and he really moaned. Before he knew it, he had Tony pinned onto the bed, one hand trailing down the seam of his shirt and the other on his neck. It wasn’t long before Tony pushed him onto his side and Loki felt his hand move slowly up his thigh and over his hips before beginning to slowly slide it up to his chest, pushing his shirt up as he went. Gods, he hasn’t felt this good just kissing someone in years. When they eventually stopped to take a breath, Loki began to kiss Tony’s neck, biting a little near his shoulder. 

Of course, good things never truly last do they? 

Tony pushed him up lightly, just enough so that they could see each other’s faces. “So you finally broke up with your cheating asshole boyfriend?” he asked with a smile.

“It’s...in the process.” In retrospect, he probably should have lied. 

“Seriously?” Tony sat up and turned back towards him, giving him an imploring look. 

“It is not the way you think,” Loki practically pleaded, lifting his hands up as he too switched positions. 

“I’ll see you later, Loki.” That being said, Tony grabbed his bag and left - he had left half his things behind. Despite what he wanted to do, Loki was pretty sure Tony needed time to calm down before he spoke with him again. 

 

**_Tuesday_ **

After the bell rang and his classmates began filing out of the Calculus room Loki stood quickly and reached the door before Tony did, leaving him no option but to speak with him. Even though he looked annoyed, Loki knew that he wouldn’t do anything. 

“What do you want?” Tony asked.

“I need to speak to you.”

“You are ‘speaking to me’.”

“You know what I mean,” Loki replied, unable to stop himself from rolling his eyes. Tony was obviously just being difficult for the sake of it.

“I don’t-”

“Listen, I understand if you do not want to go to my house or continue the tutoring. That’s fine. I would still really like to talk to you, if you’d meet me after school by the tennis courts.” Tony looked less sure of himself, and Loki was not one to let an opportunity slide...even if it seems a little manipulative. He leaned in closer to Tony, none too subtly. “Please?” he breathed. 

After a moment, where Loki was almost proud to say Tony looked slightly dazed, he agreed and they both left for their next classes without another word. Loki didn’t actually go to AP Lit, though. He may have been ignoring Natasha in order to avoid telling her about everything going on with Tony and Fandral. Sitting for an hour with her glaring daggers at him didn’t sound appealing. Anyway, he knew what she would say to him if she knew the whole story. Unfortunately she _was_ his best friend, so he would have to tell her eventually...he just needed some time to sort it all out.

It wasn’t often that Loki skipped class and it wasn’t often that he smoked. Today was an exception to these two norms. The tennis courts were wonderfully far away from any window, with the soccer field separating the two. He spent the next hour listening to music and chain smoking. From his position, lying down on his back and staring at the clouds, he didn’t notice Tony’s arrival until one of his headphones was being pulled out of his ear. 

“Huh?” He was momentarily confused as he pushed himself up onto his elbows and considered outing his half smoked cigarette. Then again, if it had been a school official they would have already seen him smoking anyway. “Oh, Tony.”

“Yeah, I’m here,” Tony said as Loki stood up the rest of the way and picked his bag up off the ground, “What were you listening to, anyway?”

“Hmm? Oh, right,” Loki turned off his iPod and shoved it into his backpack, “I was listening to Muse...but Tony, I really need to apologize to you.” 

“You think?” he replied irritably, making Loki wince a little.

“Yes. I am so sorry. This past weekend was very...enlightening. My relationship with Fandral really is pretty much over. It’s just not exactly official, though how he could possibly think there is anything salvageable I do not know.”

“I don’t even know what you mean by that. How can you be in limbo between together and not?”

“Please just...trust me, when I tell you that it is not wise for me to speak to him until I have calmed down. Even if it is just a phone call, things tend to not...proceed as they should when I am angry. I had every intention to end things when last he and I spoke, but-”

“Alright, Lo’. I trust you.” Three simple words, but Loki could not express how much they meant to him. 

“Thank you.” He hadn’t meant for it to come out as a whisper. Still, he wondered how Tony wanted to proceed from here. Apparently the other boy was thinking the same thing. 

“So, your house?”

That is how they ended up in Loki’s basement - he had decided that it was a better option than for them to be in his room again. Now, they did get a good amount of work done...and Loki was able to both pay attention and be entirely distracted. His attention was dominated by Tony, who apart from just being terribly smart also just had a presence about him. When he spoke, all eyes were meant to be on him. The side effect of this was that Loki found himself easily distracted, suddenly focusing on his eyes - they were a very warm brown - or his lips - sometimes he would lick them before he continued talking and that sure was one way to get Loki’s focus. 

“Loki? Loki~?”

“I’m sorry, what?” he asked, blushing slightly as he snapped back to attention.

“I had asked you- how long were you zoning out? What was the last thing you remember me saying?”

“Uhm...‘Loki’,” he replied, smirking. Tony rolled his eyes, but smiled. 

“In all seriousness, though.”

“In all seriousness, you are incredibly distracting,” Loki said, leaning towards Tony and unconsciously licking his lips. 

“Loki I don’t think-”

Tony’s voice lacked conviction, and Loki couldn’t stop himself from abusing it as he edged slightly closer before pressing him against the couch. “I promise you, thinking is the last thing either of us should be doing.” Before Tony had a chance to respond, Loki’s lips were on his - and he didn’t actually meet any resistance. 

The kiss didn’t start out all that soft to begin with - there had been too much tension for that - but within moments they were kissing hard, tongues battling for dominance, hands trailing all over each other. Loki found himself under Tony, who had pressed his knee in between his legs. If he had been in any sort of state for random thought, Loki would have found it funny how quickly they seemed to get horizontal. Instead, he pulled Tony closer, arching up into him and cherishing the moan he received. _He will have to make that sound again...and often,_ Loki thought. A goal now in mind, he ran his hand up Tony’s back and underneath his shirt before grabbing the back of his leg with the other hand and deftly switching their positions. This was much better, the shift having caused Tony’s pants to slide down just enough and his shirt to ride up a significant amount. Breaking away from the kiss, Loki began to kiss and bite his hip bone and side, many of them definitely going to leave a mark. His plan was an undisputed success, as he heard Tony moan and felt his fingers brushing through and tugging at his hair in the best of ways.

“Ahh...shit, Loki...fuck,” Tony panted, sounding quite breathless. Loki chuckled as he moved to Tony’s other side and contemplated getting through the formalities and just taking his shirt off. 

“Lo’...I don’t know if we...maybe uh...ahhh dammit.” As Tony had yet to get any sort of point across, Loki slid his hands under his shirt and up his sides as he began giving Tony’s neck a similar treatment. This must have derailed his thoughts completely, because Loki soon found hands on his ass, then thighs, and his hair being tugged back so hard that his head was pulled back giving Tony the perfect angle to switch their positions. He groaned and somehow found a way to press himself even closer up against Tony, only to groan even louder as he felt the boy under him equally as hard. Viciously would probably be an adequate way to describe how Loki kissed him next, pulling them both up into a sitting position and trying not to rip his shirt, despite any and all urges. The only problem with that method was the fact that eventually they would both have to breath.

“Wow...damn Loki this is...ugh but I really...”

“Yes?” Loki whispered before beginning to lick along Tony’s earlobe.

“You know...I can’t even begin to form a coherent thought...not with you doing that.” Tony didn’t sound all that upset about it. Loki just hummed and continued what he was doing. “We really...shouldn’t...”

Never let it be said that Loki did not listen when he was told to stop doing something - at least, not in this setting. “What? Why ever not?” Didn’t mean he couldn’t get an explanation, though. Even though he was pretty sure he knew what it was.

“You should...this can all wait, or whatever happens, until your really done with that...that Fandral guy.”

Well did he ever hit the nail on the head. 

“I see not how it matters.”

“Seriously? C’mon, wasn’t it you who so proudly said ‘never have I ever cheated on someone’?” _Damn the kid has a point_.

 

**_Wednesday_ **

It was very hard for Loki to hold back when he knew what he wanted. So that’s how he and Tony had ended up making out on Loki’s bed. Considering what Tony had been saying just the day before, Loki was a little surprised that he had ended up being the one without his shirt. In retrospect, he also shouldn’t have been surprised when Tony stopped them after he had brushed his hand up against his crotch. At least the moan he pulled from the boy was the best yet. 

“You _really_ should decide what you wish to do before you start removing my clothes,” Loki whispered into Tony’s ear, his bare chest pressed against the other’s. 

“Well...fuck! I can’t get within two feet of you without suddenly having you on top of me. It’s kind of hard to resist.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing, but I just hear a compliment.”

“It’s annoying,” Tony huffed. 

“I do what I want, and I like you,” Loki smirked. 

Tony sighed and rolled his eyes, pushing them both up. “I like you too, Lo’. Thing is you have a boyfriend.”

Loki flipped over and screamed into one of his pillows. “He is _not_ my boyfriend. He’s just...not necessarily _not_ my...no he’s not my boyfriend. Just yesterday an acquaintance of mine said that he was fucking this guy who works as a bouncer at some club.”

“I thought he was cheating on you with that Sif chick?”

Loki simply raised an eyebrow.

“Oh. Gotcha.” 

“Quite,” he replied, word seeping with his obvious distaste. 

“Alright, well, my point still stands. We probably shouldn’t hang out until you finally break up with Fandral. It’s me or him,” Tony said, issuing an ultimatum. 

“Oh, it’s definitely you,” Loki replied, pulling Tony down on top of him and staring into surprised chocolate coloured eyes.

 

**_Thursday_ **

“You _what_?!” Natasha almost shouted, trying not to choke on the sip of water she had just taken. 

“Don’t tell me you think I’m somehow wronging both parties as well. Fandral is a piece of-”

“Loki, you’re actually falling for _Tony_?!!” she hissed. 

“Wait, what?” Clint finally decided to start paying more attention to them than he was on his chicken sandwich. They were eating lunch at their usual table in the back of the lunchroom by the stage. 

“Please enlighten me, what is the problem with that?” Loki asked, just a little darkly.

“I thought I told you to tread lightly.”

“Darling, you know I hardly ever listen. Plus, were you not listening? He took _notes for me_ , and he’s teaching me calculus, he’s smart and funny, he doesn’t insult me or mock me for the things I’m interested in, and did I mention he is a spectacular kisser. I actually can’t believe he’s never been with a man, though I suppose-”

“Can we not?!” Clint asked, holding up his hands for emphasis, “I’m trying to eat and picturing you in bed with some dude does not-”

“Oh you know you like it. I’m sure that’s all you’re thinking of when you’re in bed with-”

“Loki. Clint. Shut up, both of you.” Both boys knew to listen when Natasha used _that voice_. Disobedience on their part would not end pleasantly. “I need to tell you a few things about Tony. First, you’re right he is smart. Not normal smart, though.”

“Of course not, he’s inventing an artificial intelligence and almost gave me a timeline for when he would create flying cars _and how_.” 

“Exactly. He’s a genius. I’m sure he’ll have graduated college before he’s 18.”

This gave Loki pause. “Wait...what do you mean?”

“Loki, he’s in our grade but he’s only a month away from being 15 years old.”

“So...he’s only 14 right now.”

“Dude shit! Guy looks like he could easily be 18! I’m older than him?!” Clint was 16 years old and a junior. This was constantly a source of tension between him and Natasha, as she would be graduating this year and would have to wait for him to finish high school - assuming they would still be together, which Loki did. 

“Yes dear, you’re older than him. So is _Loki_ , aka the one who is trying to get in his pants,” she replied, eyes narrowing. 

“How was I supposed to know that,” Loki hissed. 

“Well if you didn’t just go and-”

“It’s only three years.”

“Yeah, well what about when you turn 18 next winter? Then it would be statutory rape.”

“Who is even saying we’ll still be together by then? I am not planning that far ahead.”

“If you’re not serious about it, why bother?” Natasha challenged. 

This made Loki upset in ways that he didn’t even know how to vocalize, so he stood up and left, leaving his tray of food still sitting on the table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that it takes me forever to update, I hope long chapter made up for it a bit? LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! :]


	4. Saturday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. Life just gets in the way, especially college. But hey - new chapter!

_**Friday**_

 

Coffee was a beautiful thing. No one aside from certain members of the house staff had seen Tony since Wednesday afternoon. When he had gotten home that day inspiration struck, and when inspiration strikes everything else falls onto the back burner. Aside from coffee, he had only eaten when forced to by one of the more maternal maids. He hadnʼt slept in days, but at this rate his AI would be ﬁnished before the end of the school year.

The annoying thing was that if his parents were in town he would still have done this and not heard a word about it from anyone. When the (important) Starkʼs left, though, the entire staff went into freak-out mode. Apparently they didnʼt view Tonyʼs behavior as acceptable, and so were threatening to call Howard and Maria. It was bogus. Why would they even care? Exactly.

“Shouldnʼt you be in school right now?” their butler asked as Tony emerged from the basement in order to ﬁnd a box of drafting tablets. He needed more so that he could reverse engineer them and turn them into seamless projections that could function with thermo-laser cameras and sync with his AI.

“Come on Jarvis, are you serious?”

The man just rolled his eyes and began to walk away. “You do know, Master Stark, that you are building your own island? Nothing is created in a vacuum, sir. The outside world inspires you,” he said over his shoulder.

Worry was not an emotion that Loki preferred to acknowledge. To let others know such a weakness was even more unthinkable - something that would make him appear vulnerable...weak. That didnʼt stop him from nervously ﬁdgeting in Calculus as, once again, Tonyʼs seat remained empty. It was true that he had still yet to speak to Fandral, but Loki doubted that was the reason that the other boy had been absent the past two days. Illness was most likely, followed by some type of family issue. Either way, Loki found himself unsettlingly concerned.

He had been with Fandral for 9 months and never once had he actually been worried about him. Maybe that was another one of the many things that should have alerted him to the pointlessness of their relationship. When he had been sick, Loki felt no compelling desire to go over to his apartment to make him soup and watch movies. Now he was ﬁghting the urge to call Tony and ask if something was wrong. He had really shown his cards enough already, hadnʼt he?

“Loki are you even paying attention?” Natasha whispered, making him jump with a start. He didnʼt even really remember switching classes. “Thatʼs what I thought.”

“I have a lot on my mind,” he replied.

“Ah, drama in the world of abusive older boyfriends and hot young teens? I would have never thought.”

“Silence, you mewling quim,” he hissed.

“Oh Iʼm so scared,” Natasha rolled her eyes, “Could we please leave the land of pouting and actually talk like adults?”

“Fine,” Loki said with a sigh, “Tony hasnʼt been to school since Wednesday and Iʼm just...”

“Oh yeah, I havenʼt seen him in Drawing IV or AP World History.”

“You are only now telling me that you have two classes with him?” Loki raised an eyebrow.

“It never came up.”

“Iʼm always talking about him,” he countered, only realizing how that sounded after it left his mouth.

Natasha giggled. She actually giggled. He wished he had gotten it on video to show to Clint. “Well youʼve never asked me how I know and know about him.”

“This should be freely offered information.”

“Well, he does this a lot. Sometimes for a lot longer than two days. He just disappears. Once he asked me if he could borrow my History notes after one of his extended absences. I asked him where he had been, and apparently he had created a programme that can auto-unlock any server, shifting on itʼs own through every known breakage or hacking sequence. I imagine now that it was just a small start toward his Artiﬁcial Intelligence - the programme could pretty much think for itself.”

“Iʼm sorry, Iʼm never going to be able to think of him as some young little boy or however it is you see him. He is so...”

“Amazing? Dreamy? Smart? Tell me, Lokster, were you worrying about him?” she asked with an evil grin.

“Tell another soul and Iʼll-”

“Romanoff. Odinson. Either get back to your reading or get to detention,” their teacher interrupted. So they couldnʼt resume their conversation until after class, where Natasha convinced Loki that it wouldnʼt appear needy or clingy to just call or text him. Even if he was in Japan or sick with the ﬂu he could still operate a cell phone. He agreed with great reluctance - what she said did make sense. This is what he reminded himself as he dialed Tonyʼs number, lying in his bed after he had gotten home from school. It had only rang twice before Loki felt compelled to hang up, but before he could end the call Tony answered.

“Hello?”

“Oh, hi. Itʼs Loki.”

“I know. Iʼve got your number in my phone,” he laughed.

“Right, yes. How are you?” He didnʼt know how Natasha thought this didnʼt come off as needy.

“Dude Iʼm great! Iʼve made so much progress with my AI! Iʼve completely ﬁnished the coding and ran it through some programmes on my computer - it should all function. Now I just have to begin constructing the mainframe and-”

“I believe I told you a very personal and private secret in order to avoid hearing the technicalities behind your inventions.”

“Hey! That was you making it up to me for being a dick about not wanting to hear about my work!”

“Ah...is that not what I said?”

“Maybe I should get another secret.”

“How about we just talk about things that both of us understand.”

“So...no random literature facts?”

“No random literature facts. What are your plans for after graduation?”

“Shit, thatʼs in two weeks, isnʼt it.”

“Yes...are you not keeping track?” Loki laughed.

“Who can keep track of that when their about to break through the preconceived limitations of the technology of our time?! This AI is going to pretty much be a thinking, feeling...being.”

“Ah,” Loki was actually at a loss for words, “...Tony, you are going to do such amazing things with your life. I donʼt...”

“Hey...no, Iʼm really not. Everythingʼs...haha, Loʼ youʼre...uh...my life is pretty much already written out for me. Iʼm not going to be able to keep creating anything I feel like all the time. Youʼre the one whoʼs going to do amazing and creative things.”

Loki had never heard Tony so manic before, and found himself incredibly disappointed when the otherʼs mood dropped.

“Tony...grow up. You write your own life. If you think Iʼm going to be such a talented writer, Iʼll write yours for you if I have to,” he jokingly threatened.

“Hah...alright. I may hold you to that.”

“Oh do. I canʼt say I donʼt enjoy the power. Maybe youʼll go to Harvard and work at a zoo before creating the technology that makes life sustainable on Mars.” Loki was quite pleased when Tonyʼs laughter returned.

“Ahaha more like MIT, R&D, and a way to make nuclear warfare obsolete.”

“Planning to work at Stark Industries?” Loki inquired.

“...you could say that. What are you planning on? Harvard and a zoo?”

“Harvard yes, but the zoo is quite unlikely.”

“If you donʼt work at a zoo Iʼll be so disappointed.”

“How sad for you, to have to feel disappointment...what a trying world you live in.”

“Woe is me,” Tony deadpanned.

“Do you want to hang out tomorrow?,” Loki asked suddenly, “Just doing whatever, not studying or anything like that?”

There was a pause on the other line, and Loki felt a momentary sinking in his stomach before Tony answered. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

_**Saturday** _

Loki didnʼt spend an abundance of time outdoors, but that didnʼt mean he couldnʼt enjoy a beautiful, sunny day. He was lying on top of a picnic table at the park, head hanging over the edge as he listened to music and waited for Tony. He had so much he wanted to talk to the other boy about. Before he knew it, a headphone was once again taken out of his ear. When he turned his head he saw Tony kneeling down and putting it into his own ear.

“Hmmm...interesting. What is it?” he asked.

“Itʼs CocoRosie. Good interesting or bad interesting?”

“Itʼs leaning toward good interesting. Iʼll have to download it and check it out more later.”

“I could just put the ﬁles on a ﬂash drive for you,” Loki offered.

“Nah, my computer is a tank and I have amazing internet connection. I could probably torrent everything they have in less than a minute. No need to take that kind of time.”

“You mean the time it takes for you to physically move the ﬂash drive from one computer to another?” Loki asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Ugh, yeah. Sounds exhausting. So, whatʼs up Loʼ?” Loki never wanted to admit it, but he loved the way that Tony always called him Loʼ instead of Loki.

“Nothing out of the ordinary. I actually have some things Iʼd like to ask you, if you donʼt mind,” he said, ﬁnally sitting up and turning to face Tony who had moved to sit on the other end of the table top.

“Oh...sure, I guess.” Tony sounded nervous. Loki chewed on his bottom lip, wondering where the best place to start would be.

“Youʼre 14,” he stated.

“Yeah.”

“I didnʼt know that until Natasha told me the other day.”

“Oh...”

“It doesnʼt, I mean...I donʼt think of you any differently,” Loki quickly back-peddled, hearing the disappointment in Tonyʼs voice, “I was just...I was wondering what you...thought of that.”

“What do you mean? The fact that youʼre 3 years older than me?”

“Yes, that.”

“Well, I think at this point you should know that I could really care less.”

“This all makes the thought of your absinthe story even more terribly inappropriate.”

“Those are the best kinds.”

“I suppose youʼre right,” Loki chuckled before getting serious again, “I really know next to nothing about about you, Tony. I donʼt know your last name, where you live, or any of those normal things that come with any type of friendship or relationsh-”

“Loki donʼt you dare ﬁnish that sentence.”

“And why not?!” he challenged.

“Because you may not know a lot about me, which no one does by the way, but you donʼt get to ask for that trust based on some illusion of a relationship when you practically insist on ignoring the fact that youʼre clinging to your awful relationship with fucking Fandral for no reason.”

“Trust?! How is this an issue of trust?!!”

“Thatʼs not something I have to explain to you.” Loki didnʼt know how this had turned into a ﬁght, but it seemed like it had. That was the opposite of what he wanted, and he could only think of one way to make it better. So he pulled out his cell phone and dialed.

“What are you doing?” Tony asked. Loki simply held up a ﬁnger and listened to the god awful ringback tone before the phone was picked up.

“Hello?”

“Hello Fandral,” Loki replied with distaste.

“Loks Iʼm so glad you called, Iʼm so sorry. Can you come over? I really want to make things up to you-”

“Shut up, I shall do nothing of the sort,” he grimaced.

“Babe-”

“We are over, Fandral. That is why Iʼm calling, because I feared that chucking food at your face may not have quite gotten the message across. I no longer want anything to do with you. Should you see my idiotic brother in the coming future, please do tell him about how you cheated on me with his ex-girlfriend. Iʼm sure he would absolutely love that. In fact I may tell him right now-”

“I get it, I get it. Donʼt...donʼt tell Thor. Iʼll see you later, Loki,” Fandral said, sounding stupidly upset about such an inevitable situation.

“No, you wonʼt,” Loki replied before hanging up and turning back to Tony.

“Shit,” Tony muttered, looking more than a little surprised. Loki just rolled his eyes and ﬁxed Tony with an even more imploring look. “So...you’re single now.”

“Are you planning on doing something about it?”

“Maybe,” Tony replied, sliding a little closer to him on the tabletop.

“Well you can forget about it if you donʼt trust me enough to let me go over to your house,” Loki seethed, practically glaring at Tony. He was tired of all of this. He didnʼt do proper relationships with feelings and all of that shit. Then this guy comes along and fucks all that up, but he will not take any more shit from anyone. Never.

Tony visibly deﬂated. “Loki...I promise, eventually okay? I just need time to ﬁgure some stuff out ﬁrst. No oneʼs ever...Iʼve never trusted someone enough to bring them to the...my house. If itʼs going to be anyone, itʼll be you just...”

“I suppose I will give you time,” Loki sighed, exasperated.

“Thanks.” Loki couldnʼt suppress a small smile at the relief that seemed to radiate from the other boyʼs very pores.

“So, what would you like to do today?” Loki asked, more than ready to move on to lighter topics.

“Uh...I dunno. We could probably see a movie...like Star Trek...”

“I honestly canʼt tell if youʼre asking me out on a date or trying to get me to give you a ride to Star Trek,” Loki laughed. He didnʼt know how Tony did it; no one would ever say that Loki was easy to smile or laugh, especially when he had been in any sort of negative mood.

“That would be telling,” Tony replied in mock sing song. Loki shook his head, smile still on his face, as he lead the way to his car.

“Do you have a speciﬁc theatre you prefer?” he asked as they got into the car. There were so many different theaters in New York.

“Huh? Oh, uh no. Hey Loki?”

“What?” He paused and let go of his seatbelt, turning toward Tony.

“Do you want to go on a date with me? Iʼd really like it if this could be a da-” He didnʼt get to ﬁnish his sentence, as Lokiʼs lips had crashed into his. It was the only way he could properly express how he felt. No one looked at him or said things to him the way that Tony did. All of his exes would just pick something to do and do it, nothing was ever even the tiniest millimeter of romantic but Loki always assumed that those things were just cheesy movie shit that most people wouldnʼt even bother with. He still didnʼt know if that was the case or not, but he felt so...wanted with Tony in a way that his previous lovers and even his family had never conveyed. Maybe his mother came close, but still. With deft ﬁngers he undid the otherʼs seatbelt and was able to artfully maneuver one of his legs to hit the lever that would make the passenger seat recline.

“Youʼre so fucking ﬂexible,” said Tony when he took a small moment to take a breath before pulling Loki on top of him and continuing the kiss.

“6 years of dance, 10 years of gymnastics,” Loki replied, trailing a hand up the inside of Tonyʼs shirt and moving to his neck.

“Damn,” Tony breathed. Loki smirked as he continued his ministrations before removing his shirt altogether. Tony wrapped a leg around him, one hand tangled in his hair and the other slowly undoing the buttons of his shirt - Loki wasnʼt making this process any easier as he continued downward, licking and biting down Tonyʼs chest. One of his hands slowly, so slowly that he doubted Tony was really aware of it, moved from his side to his thigh to brush teasingly against the bulge in his jeans. Tony moaned and ﬂipped them only for Loki to end up hitting his head against the middle console...there really wasnʼt enough room for this in the car.

“Oh gods,” Loki burst out into a ﬁt of laughter.

“Holy shit! I just realized what was missing in the plans for my AI! The system needs a full integration - multiple hidden cameras with two-way microphones in every room that go directly to the processor. Hard drive space and RAM would have to be HUGE, so the main station would have to be itʼs own small room like they had for the ﬁrst computers...but with this, the AI would be able to interact with you as if he was a god!” Tony blurted out at lightning speed.

“I love that you think about computers while we make out,” Loki deadpanned, though the effect was lost when he couldnʼt keep from smiling. He didnʼt know why, maybe it was because he was also passionate about something, but he really loved Tonyʼs enthusiasm for his work.

“My brain does about a hundred things at once. Believe me when I say that I am slowly memorizing every single inch of you.”

Though he had already been hard, hearing him say that just made Loki even harder. Unfortunately they were in a car that was in a park...not excellent timing. “Do you want to go back to my house before Star Trek?” he asked.

“This is going to sound really insensitive, but I donʼt give a shit. I will spontaneously combust if I canʼt work on my AI, I just...shit I can practically see the coding when I shut my eyes, Loʼ I just-”

“I understand, Tony. Thereʼs always another time,” Loki replied, doing his best to hide his disappointment. He must not have done a very good job, because he watched as the other boyʼs brow furrowed, mouth settling into a frown.

“I feel bad. I mean I wish you could just watch me work and it wouldnʼt be a big deal with all this driving and shit but-”

“Ugh...Tony I donʼt...I donʼt know how this is going to work if you donʼt trust me. I donʼt think it can.”

“But I thought we reached an agreement on this!” Tony complained.

“If I recall, I did not sign anything in blood.”

“Thatʼs not even fair!”

“It is fair, Tony. Since you have made me fairly upset and cancelled a date that you made, I believe Iʼm entitled to a secret.”

“Fucking shit.” Loki had to admit he was a little worried at the amount of fear in the otherʼs eyes.

“You know what Iʼm going to ask, right?”

With a combined huff and pout that Loki thought was verging into hissy-ﬁt territory Tony put his shirt back on, raised his seat and buckled himself in. “This sucks. I donʼt even know how to do this...I havenʼt had any time to prepare...”

“Suck it up you child.”

“I donʼt think that thatʼs a phrase you should use in this relationship.”

“Ah, yes...so what would you call our relationship?” Loki hedged. He never liked to be the one to label something, whether he had a preferred label for it or not.

“Well...I know I asked you out on a date, but would you like to date me?” Tony asked, cocky grin back on his face as he leaned back and rested his head on his hands, arms crossed behind him.

This was another pleasantly new thing. He could really get used to this. “Of course,” he replied with a smile, “now put your address into my phoneʼs GPS. I would hate to have my boyfriend burst into ﬂames.”

Even though it was obvious as to how uncomfortable he was, Tony still looked a little pleased which was good enough for him. Once the navigation started they were on their way.

“Alright uhm...Iʼm going to try to give you some warnings,” Tony began, “Thereʼs a lot of expensive shit everywhere on the main ﬂoors that would obviously be really bad to break...and uh...thereʼs three main ﬂoors-”

“Three? Thatʼs not including a basement?”

“Yeah...itʼs more of a manor than a house. The top ﬂoor has my dadʼs lab and ofﬁce and who knows what other rooms, the second ﬂoor has my parents room, some guest rooms and wings, and I think thatʼs where the library is? I donʼt really remember.”

“Youʼve lost track of a library.” Loki took a moment to look at Tony with a raised eyebrow before he made the next turn.

“Well I havenʼt been up there in a long time. I think I was like 7 years old.”

“A whole ﬂoor on your house, you havenʼt seen it in nearly 8 years...I donʼt think I understand,” Loki admitted.

“Well...itʼs complicated. First ﬂoor has all of the main ﬁrst ﬂoor-y things. Living room, sitting room, dining room, kitchen, formal dining room, ballroom, and staff quarters. Oh right, we have a house staff. Most of them are part time, but Jarvis and Chef Clara work and live there.”

“Wow,” was all Loki could say to that. He couldnʼt really fathom a house that had a staff, and a library, and guest wings. “How many part time staff do you employ? Do you know them?”

“Oh yeah, we have a gardener named Mr. Williams, who is also a war veteran. Then thereʼs the maids, one for each proper ﬂoor. Their names are Jo, Rose, and Amy. They take turns with the basement but I usually donʼt let them do much if Iʼm there. Uh...oh Chef has two kitchen assistants who work some dinners and major events. I donʼt know them as well, but Iʼm pretty sure their names are Sam and Donna. Sheʼs not really house staff, but when my dadʼs home his personal assistant, Martha, is always around. Itʼs kind of annoying, actually.”

“Right...so you live in the basement, then?”

“Yeah, I built my own lab down there and everything. Someone usually brings down my food so I donʼt have to go upstairs.”

“If youʼre so rich why do you live like a mole person?” Loki asked incredulously.

“My parents spend all of their time drinking and ﬁghting and socializing. My dad barely seems to know I exist, has never acknowledged a single thing Iʼve accomplished. I have trouble looking at my mom sometimes, sheʼs so obsessed with being young and thin and itʼs just too much. She only notices me a fraction more than my father does,” he replied bitterly.

“Oh...Tony I-” Loki was interrupted by both the GPS and Tony telling him to turn down a long driveway and that they were there. Suddenly he found his hand in a tight grip and only then did he truly realize just how terriﬁed Tony was. The other boy let out an audible gulp just as the mansion came into view.

Incredible and extravagant were the ﬁrst words that came to mind as Loki took in the view from behind the gate, which had a very fancy ʻSʼ in the centre. Tony told him the code and before either of them were really ready for this Loki parked the car in front of the house. An older man exited the house and walked up to them.

“Oh, hey Jarv,” Tony greeted. Loki could hear the anxiety in his voice.

“Welcome home, sir. This is a friend of yours, I presume? Should we expect any other visitors?” the butler asked.

“Yeah, this is Loki. Heʼs actually my boyfriend. Loki, this is Jarvis,” Tony introduced as they both exited the car. Loki was actually shocked that he had been so upfront about it. Most boys heʼd dated who were straight or just hadnʼt come out yet would give all sorts of explanations about who he was to them.

“Hello,” Loki greeted, shaking the other manʼs hand.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Master Loki.”

“Oh and no, weʼre not expecting anyone else so itʼs ﬁne for us to leave the car here,” Tony piped in.

“Sounds excellent, sir. Am I to assume the two of you will be spending your time in the basement, or shall you be giving a tour?” he asked.

“Loʼ?” Tony asked hesitantly.

“The tour can wait. I seem to recall that you were about to self combust if unable to invent soon enough,” Loki smirked, putting a hand on his lower back in an attempt to be reassuring.

“Ah, quite right. Have a good day, sirs,” Jarvis said before heading back into the manor. They followed him a few feet back and Tony quickly steered them to the basement once they were inside.

“Wait, wait, Iʼve never been in a mansion before. I would just like to take a moment to look at the front entryway,” Loki complained, tugging him until he stopped. The foyer was grand and spacious, a chandelier hung from the ceiling and a mosaic on the ﬂoor made another fancy ʻSʼ, identical to the one on the gate.

He could hear Tony sigh behind him. “Welcome to Stark Manor.”

Tony didnʼt wait for Loki to reply as he dragged him the rest of the way to the basement. He didnʼt really want to look back and see what the other boy thought of all of this. He didnʼt bother giving him a tour of the basement either, that could all happen later. Instead he went straight to his homemade lab.

“Wow,” he heard Loki say behind him. Tony shut his eyes for a moment, trying to mentally prepare himself for this conversation, before turning around.

“So, what do you think?” he asked, trying to pretend he wasnʼt about to have a heart attack.

“Tony this is amazing. I donʼt even know where to start,” Loki replied, looking all over the lab as if he was trying to take in everything at once.

“Silent awe is good, I’m okay with silent awe,” Tony joked, already grabbing things he would need for his work. Before too long he’d probably end up tuning Loki out anyway - that was how these things tended to go.

“So...when I asked you yesterday if you planned on working for Stark Industries…” Loki hedged awkwardly, finding a desk chair to sit on.

“Yeah…”

“I didn’t mean to…” Loki didn’t even know how to finish the sentence, he found himself quite overwhelmed. His eyes never in the same place for more than a moment as he slowly catalogued the sheer amazement...genius...extravagance, even, of the place he had found himself. It was beginning to make sense, Natasha’s warning to ‘tread lightly’, for it seemed he had just barreled into a world so vastly different than his own.

His father was a politician, yes, but that was not quite the same...they did not have lives that could possibly be put on par with...this. And he was only seeing Tony’s tiny little corner of the vast manor.

Tony Stark.

He was _dating_ Tony Stark.

“No it’s fine, it’s...it’s what it is,” the boy in question mumbled, already disappearing into his work. Loki found he was glad for the silence, he needed to think. So he contented himself in watching Tony work, which in itself was exhilarating. He may have never been more attracted to someone.

Hours of silence were only disturbed by the sound of Tony’s tinkering. Loki sat, leaning back in the desk chair, with one eye on the inventor and another on a wall full of machines. His mind was on neither, though.

To think, he had been trying to uncomplicate things. This all, however, was a whole new mess of complicated. Gods, he was at _Stark Manor_. He was _dating_ Tony _Stark_. Ridiculous. He had so many questions. Firstly, why on earth would Tony have wanted to go to public school? Public school was horrible. Though apparently the anonymity he had created may be seen as a perk. Anywhere else he would be known as the heir to Stark Industries, which Loki could easily imagine causing a lot of pressure.

There was no way, though, that the curriculum their school offered could challenge him. Why bother with high school at all? Life lessons, perhaps. If he was only 14 now, that means he began high school when he was 11 or 12...Loki snapped his head in Tony’s direction, watching him carefully now.

He - fortunately - looked older for his age. If Loki had been in his situation he would have simply lied about his age. Perhaps the growth spurt was very recent, though. Gods, complicated did not even begin to describe it. To make matters worse, Loki's father _knew_ Howard Stark. Weapons manufacturers and government officials tend to run in the same circles. It had never come up - Tony had never asked and the reason for that was now abundantly clear, one should never ask a question that they themselves are not willing to answer - but Loki's father was an ambassador. Technically Loki had diplomatic immunity. Since he was adopted, though, he was also technically an American citizen. It was never something that Loki voluntarily brought up...because it was complicated.

Why was everything so fucking complicated?!

¨Alright, it'll have to do some troubleshooting...a reboot...I'll have to order a lot of parts and clean out a closet...but yeah, that's probably enough for now,¨ Tony interrupted Loki's chaotic thoughts.

¨Excellent,¨ was all Loki could think to reply.

¨You have a lot of questions, don't you.¨ It wasn't a question and Loki could visibly see him deflating after what he could only describe as an 'inventing-high'.

¨I do. However I am in no rush for answers, so please do not feel...obligated.¨ He internally winced. Sometimes Loki hated how much he could sound like a politician sometimes.

¨No, no...it's fine. I...I trust you,¨ Tony sighed. The way he messed with his hair and kept his eyes at his feet did not exactly exude confidence, but Loki would not make it harder if he could help it. Maybe the band-aid approach was best - get it all out of the way.

¨You are Anthony Stark, son of Howard and Maria Stark, heir of Stark Industries, correct?¨

¨Yeah...¨

¨You live here, and you do not have a good relationship with your parents.¨

¨Mmhmm.¨

¨Why did you decide to go to public school?¨

¨Oh...well, lots of reasons. Mostly to avoid being a 'Stark' for most of the day. Partly so that my parents wouldn't be able to ship me off to a private boarding school. It's a bit different if your kid you never see is far away. Is it bad that I wanted to make them feel guilty?¨

¨Not at all. It is perfectly understandable.¨

¨Why do you go to public school?¨ Tony asked, honestly surprising Loki.

¨Excuse me?¨

¨You could be at a fancy private school. Why not?¨

¨Uhm...I...I'm sorry, what?¨

¨My last name may be confidential information, but everyone at school knows _yours_. I searched you. I'm a computer guy, it's what I do.¨

¨You...looked me up...on the internet.¨ It had never occurred to Loki that perhaps Tony didn't ask certain questions because he _already knew the answers._ Part of him wanted to be at least a little upset, but honestly if Tony wasn't who he was and his last name had been common knowledge Loki would have done the exact same thing. Weeks ago. It was fair. And totally just...a Tony thing to do, now that he thought about it.

¨Doesn't everyone?¨

¨Perhaps. I feel that you had an unfair advantage,¨ Loki smirked and Tony actually laughed. It was a strained and nervous laugh, but still - progress.

¨Just consider it a head start. My life is pretty well documented so when you get home you can get all the sordid details.¨

¨'Sordid' seems like a strong word, does it not?¨

Tony's only answer was a shrug.

¨I prefer to collect such details in person, as it were.¨ This made Tony smile.

¨You never answered the question.¨

¨Oh, yes. Private school was never an option. Our mother insisted we get a 'normal' American education. My parents were not raised in luxury so neither would we. She says it makes you unrelateable, that it distorts your view of the world. She is a smart woman and I trust her judgement.¨

¨That's cool. Totally true. I've met a lot of snobby stuck up rich kids.¨

¨As have I. But let's put our conversation on hold, shall we?¨ To hell with the band-aid approach. Enough of the day had already been wasted.

¨Yeah, okay. What n-¨ Tony's question was interrupted by Loki slamming him into a wall and kissing him. ¨Hey! Delicate machinery in here! Not that I'm complaining, but...different location please?¨

So that was how they ended up in Tony's - admittedly quite messy for someone with so many maids - room. It didn't take long for them to get each other's shirts off, for things to progress as far as they had in the past before they were...dating. Loki was actually quite curious as to how far Tony would be willing to go. Most of the ¨straight¨ boys he had been with got very awkward once the pants came off.

As if in answer to that unspoken question Tony, who had previously been kissing his neck and running his hands down Loki's sides and back, moved his mouth down to his chest and undid his pants. Loki was well beyond trying to restrain his moans, especially when Tony's following action was to start pulling the pants off.

¨Moving a little fast now, aren't we?¨ Loki joked, even as he pulled Tony up to kiss him while kicking off his pants.

¨Are you kidding?¨ Tony asked breathlessly in between kisses, ¨I've been wanting to do that for days.¨

¨Well, great minds think alike,¨ Loki commented while expertly divesting Tony of his pants, ¨What I had meant, though, is fast for you.¨

¨Huh? Oh. Right, well...sometimes you need to run before you can walk.¨ Tony followed that statement by running his hand down Loki's stomach before ending on top of his groin. Gods, Tony would never stop surprising him. Well, never say never but it seemed highly unlikely. Less conversation. More Tony.

Their mouths were very occupied for the next few minutes anyway. Tony's hands were everywhere, learning. Mapping out each spot and Loki's reaction to having it touched. He had big plans to complete the entire circuit with his mouth once he'd finished, but now he was starting to feel uncomfortably hard. But he couldn't help but think about what Loki had said about moving too fast. They had just started dating hours ago. A quick look at the clock - yeah, like six, six and a half hours ago. Maybe it was time to hit the breaks.

¨Hey,¨ he said, out of breath as he put a few inches of distance between them.

¨Yes?¨ Loki was just as breathless, which made Tony feel slightly better.

¨I don't mean to be a tease, but-¨

¨What makes you think I give it up on the first date? If memory serves, you haven't even taken me,¨ Loki joked, putting Tony at ease. He still wasn't sure how Loki managed to do that all the time. Just say a few words and make his nerves disappear.

¨Well, we could go now. Or we could shower and then just hang out here,¨ he suggested. Loki just raised an eyebrow in response. ¨The basement has four bathrooms. Three of them have showers,¨ Tony clarified.

¨Ah. That would be fine, then.¨

The rest of the day went fine. After their showers, Tony took Loki on a tour of the manor which was stressful but not as bad as he thought it would be. He didn't even have an anxiety attack. Maybe letting people know who he was wasn't such a bad thing. Then again, maybe it was just Loki.

By the time they looked at a clock, it was nearly midnight.

¨I suppose I should be going, then?¨ He wasn't sure if Loki intended it to be a question, but that's how Tony took it.

¨Or you could stay over.¨ This was not a question. Instead, an option. One that he hoped that Loki would choose. It was nice, for once, to feel like he wasn't alone in the manor.

¨Ah, that's right.¨

¨What?¨ Tony asked, confused by his... _boyfriend's_ steepled fingers and knowing smirk.

¨You've never had someone stay over at your house.¨

Damn. That game of never have I ever was really going to haunt him, wasn't it? Tony sighed and leaned against the door to his lab.

¨I didn't really...it's not like I want to do sleepover things. I just...it would be cool if when I woke up you were still here.¨ That was the best way he could think to put it.

The smirk was gone, replaced with a look of sincere understanding - an emotion that was so unfamiliar to Tony that he couldn't figure out what it was until Loki said, ¨In that case, yes. I would love to. Let me just text my mother so that she knows I will not be returning tonight.¨

A text turned into a phone call, because his mother always insisted on learning all of the details. When at first Loki tried to get by with telling her as little as possible, she guilt tripped him into divulging almost everything about his day. All that mattered was that he had been able to keep Tony's identity a secret.

When Loki walked into the lab, he found the young genius once again absorbed with his AI simulations. Instead of interrupting Loki simply went into Tony's bedroom, grabbed all of the cushions, pillows and blankets he could find, and made a giant, comfy nest in between two of the desks. With that mission accomplished, he played on his phone and watched Tony work until he finally fell asleep.

_**Sunday** _

There are no windows in the lab, or anywhere else in the basement. It was one of the reasons why the passage of time made such little sense to Tony. Thankfully, the staff was aware of this issue and acted accordingly. Another thing to be thankful for was the fact that the manor had an intercom system.

So Tony awoke from his first ever sleepover, cuddled close to Loki in a blanket cocoon, to Jarvis asking him what they would like for breakfast. Before he could tell his butler to leave them alone and let him go back to sleep, though, Tony caught the look on Loki's face. He had never seen him so groggy, disoriented, and all-around _adorable_ as he had in that moment. It was great.

¨What do you want to eat?¨ he asked Loki instead.

¨Gods...what time is it? Is...is the light coming from the floor?¨

¨Yeah. So we wouldn't bump into anything, but it also wouldn't keep us up. Food?¨ It hadn't taken long for just the fact that Loki was _still here_ to energize Tony. He felt ready for the day, which was weird - usually it took the staff several tries and multiple approaches to get him out of bed on the weekends.

¨Also, Master Loki, the time is 11:23am,¨ Jarvis chimed in on the intercom.

¨I see,¨ was all he could respond before covering a big yawn and violently rubbing the sleep from his eyes. ¨Ehrm...biscuits and honey?¨ It was, for some reason, the only breakfast food he could think of that wasn't cereal.

¨Right away, sir. And Master Stark?¨

¨That sounds fine. But also eggs. Oh, and orange juice. Coffee, too. Toast for the eggs, as well. Yeah, that sounds good. Did you want anything to drink, Lo'?¨

¨Ugh, yes. Coffee. Lots of coffee.¨

Tony was still laughing even after Jarvis had informed him that their food would be ready for them soon and signed off.

¨How do you ever get up in time for school?¨ he asked, running his hair through Loki's bedhead.

¨With two pots of coffee. Sometimes two and a half,¨ Loki admitted, flopping back down onto their mess of blankets. It had once looked very much like a nest, but it seemed they had destroyed most of it's form as they slept. Tony just smiled. It was going to be a good morning.


End file.
